Loka Hatha Yoga

Learn about Hinduism and Buddhism

Our blog has a new look and style! But don't worry: among our free books and free classes and other free resources, check out The Secret Knowledge of Yogaand The Logic of Buddhism, both of which have lots of your favorite and new sutras, shastras, puranas, lessons, and the "everything yoga" of our prior "incarnation" you loved.

Dukkha

Dukkha is not a word that means "suffering." "Suffering" in its English meaning is not a concept understood by the vocabulary of its language family, so translating "du-" as suffering might be mistaken as either an attempt to Christianize or westernize the concept (whether in the effort to appropriate or communicate), or an expression of the cultural bias of the translator. It is likely the latter of either alternative: "suffer" is indeed a word that intends a sense of tolerance - but does not comprehend the action associated in dukkha.

To begin with, it would be better to express the concept by understanding the combination of "naraka" and "vedana" - in this sense, dukkha is better expressing a type of yatra intended toward distressing (distress - in the sense of how fabric is distressed, not in an emotional sense of the word). Here, what is being distressed is the fabric of existence, and specifically through the destruction by wear of both pleasure and pain. This is the process of becoming comfortable with discomfort taught by Gotama: when both pain and pleasure lose their novelty, there is nothing particularly captivating about them.

Understanding the difference between satisfaction and satiation permits understanding of this process of wear: we may or may not be satiated (svaha) by what is sweet (sva): in this sense, pleasure (paraka - an understanding of service, or the action of servicing, tied to a concept of reward, or compensation) is not the opposite of torture (naraka). Avoiding pain is not a form of pleasure and obtaining satiation is not satisfactory. What is satisfactory, in the understanding of Dharma, has to be understood by understanding these concepts in a wider context of jna - knowing, consciousness. The Jnana Yoga instructed by Gotama develops body, mind, consciousness and identity beyond (paragate) their compositors. With skillful accomplishment (siddhartha), it becomes apparent the reason someone confounds pain and pleasure as opposites when they are distinct is the same reason a person confounds atman and anatman as different when they are the same; nirvana and nivana, etc. etc. Thus, logic founded on such dualistic understandings is understood as a type of fabric: self-reinforcing, woven together, and only broken through wear. Only when the combined-knowledge (vedana) is individualized, when each strand is separated from those it is tied and woven to, will their distinctiveness reveal their conditions of beginning and ending.

This yatra is undertaken in stages, Ashramas. These Ashramas, Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa, are accomplished by Asanas of Dharma: Jnana Yoga, for the accomplishment of Karma Yoga, and ultimately Bhakti Yoga. This requires the skills of Hatha Yoga. Loka, Hatha Yoga!

We need your help

We need your help. Whether you have no prior experience, or lots of prior experience. We offer free teacher training, free classes, free books, and many other free resources. Contact lokahathayoga@gmail.com for more information.